Medical School Takes Over Army Hospital to Aid National Defense

United States Army Base Hospital No. 5 has been designated as a Harvard organization and its personnel made up of members of the staff of the Medical School. Dean C. Sidney Burwell stated in his annual report issued today. The hospital is like other army base hospitals, an organization which can be called into service on short notice.

The defense program of the United States has also been assisted by members of the Medical School who have acted as consultants to government departments or as research workers on problems of defense, the report said. The work of the Harvard Public Health Unit in England in cooperation with the American Red Cross is another major project coodinated with national defense, the report pointed out.

School Policy Outlined in 1939

"At the outbreak of the war in Europe in September of 1939 there was active discussion in the Medical School of the implications of the new situation for the Medical School," Dean Burwell said. "AT the meeting of the Administrative Board in September of 1939 the policy of the School was outlined tentatively as follows: to play an effective part in the defense program of the United States and to maintain insofar as possible the standards of teaching and research in the Medical School.

"To carry out the early planning which seemed essential for this broad policy, a committee was appointed to study the problem and to report to the Faculty. Conversations were held with the administrative officers of the various hospitals with which the School is associated and with the administrative officers of other medical schools in Boston.

Base Hospital No. 5 Designated

At the request of the Surgeon General of the United States Army, Base Hospital No. 5 was designated as a Harvard organization and its personnel made up of members of the staff of the Medical School. The Massachusetts General Hospital has set up the organization of Base Hospital No. 6 and the Boston City Hospital that of Base Hospital No. 7.

"Obviously the members of the staff of Base Hospitals 6 and 7 were in many instances also members of the teaching staff of the Harvard Medical School and in some instances of the staff of the Medical Schools of Tufts or Boston University. All of these hospitals have planned with full consultation between the Medical School and the other organizations concerned, with a view to maintaining essential services in the community's medical problems and in the teaching and research of the Medical Schools.

School Works on Defense Problems

"As the defense program of the United States developed, a considerable number of members of the staff of the Medical School began to participate in it either as consultants to various Government departments or as research workers on problems relating to defense. Some of these problems have been pursued in laboratories and camps away from the Medical School.

"Others have been transportable to the laboratories of the Medical School where, in many departments, existing facilities and existing research teams have permitted advantageous study of problems with important implications for the defense of this country.

"Appropriate committees of the Medical School have, of course, been actively concerned with the problems of the training of students admitted and possible modification in the details of the curriculum and in the duration of the course. All of these matters are under active discussion between the Faculty of the Medical School and those actively concerned with the planning and carrying out of the defense program.

Public Health Unit Formed

"At the request of the British Ministry of Health, the University in the summer of 1940 established the Harvard Public Health Unit for service in Great Britain. This was proposed because of the expected urgent need of aid in the control of communicable disease in Great Britain.

Harvard undertook the organization of a group of epidemiologists as a field unit and the organization of the laboratory for the investigation of problems which arose in connection with communicable dieases. Through the generous cooperation of the American Red Cross, the program was then enlarged and the combined project now provides for three related undertakings, each of which is helpful to the effectiveness of the whole.

These are: (A) The study of epidemics and communicable disease by a group of mobile investigators, under conditions as they occur in the field. (B) The operation of a mobile laboratory for the investigation of problems which arise from field studies and the observation of patients in the hospital. (C) The operation of a hospital for the care of patients with communicable diease. This last important activity is being carried out by the American Red Cross.

"Dr. John Gordon is Director of the Harvard Unit and of the American Red Cross-Harvard Hospital. He spent several weeks in Europe during August and September of 1940, making plans for the work of the Unit and for its effective relation to the work of the Ministry of Health of Great Britain.

The work of the Unit will have three objectives: First, it will permit the acquisition of knowledge and experience in problems of communicable disease as they occur under conditions of modern war. Such information and such experienced men may be very valuable to this country later on.

The reports of the Unit have already been useful in making plans in this country, and the men trained in the Unit undoubtedly will be able to play an increasingly useful role on their return here. Second, there will be opportunity for important research, based on epidemiological observations to be made by a well-equipped and well-integrated Unit competently directed and working under field conditions never hitherto encountered. Third, it will be useful as help to the British.